Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le Pianiste, 1960) was adapted by François Truffaut and Marcel Moussy from a novel by David Goodis, Down There. The cast includes: Charles Aznavour (as Charlie Kohler and Edward Saroyan), Marie Dubois (Lena), Nicole Berger (Theresa), Michèle Merçier (Clarissa), Albert Remy (Chico), and Richard Kenayan (Fido). The cinematography was by Raoul Coutard. Music was by Georges Delerue. Dialogue and screenplay was by François Truffaut. The film was produced by Pierre Braunberger, and directed by François Truffaut.

The film’s main character is Charlie, a piano player at a Parisian café. Charlie’s brother Chico has been involved in a robbery, and is being pursued by two other criminals, Momo and Ernest, who want their share of the money. Chico comes to the café, and Charlie helps him to escape.

Charlie has a girlfriend named Clarissa, who works as a prostitute. Charlie and Clarissa meet at his apartment that night, and make love. When Charlie looks out the window the next morning, he sees that two men are watching his apartment. When he comes out of the building, Momo and Ernest force him to get into their car. They try to offer him money to reveal the whereabouts of his brother, Chico. They also abduct Lena, a waitress at the same café where Charlie works. When the car that the gangsters are driving runs a red light and is stopped by a policeman, Charlie and Lena are able to escape.

Charlie Kohler is a former concert pianist, whose real name is Edward Saroyan. Despite his successful concert career, he has been troubled by self-doubt, and his wife Theresa had become bored with their marriage. Theresa confessed to him that she was having an affair with his concert promoter, Lars Schmeel. When Charlie was unable to show that he could forgive her, she fell into despair, and killed herself by jumping out a window of their apartment building.

Now Charlie seeks anonymity by working in a café, having abandoned his concert career. Lena falls in love with him, and wants him to resume his career. Charlie discovers that Lena has been in love with Plyne, the café owner, and she wants to make her former lover jealous. Plyne attacks Charlie, but Charlie, in self-defense, grabs a kitchen knife, stabbing and killing Plyne accidentally.

Lena drives Charlie to a distant, snow-covered village, to escape the police who are looking for him. She leaves him at a house where he meets his brothers, Richard and Chico. Meanwhile, his youngest brother, Fido, has been kidnapped by Momo and Ernest.

Lena returns later to tell him that he has been exonerated, and that the police have concluded that he killed Plyne as an act of self-defense. As the snow falls over the hills, the two gangsters show up at the house just as Lena and Charlie are about to leave. Lena is wearing Charlie’s trenchcoat, and one of the gangsters shoots and kills her. Richard and Chico escape in a car, and are pursued by Momo and Ernest. Charlie and Fido try to comfort the dying Lena.

As the film ends, Charlie has taken a job as a pianist in another café, again seeking anonymity and oblivion.

The film is notable for its mood of pathos, and its portrayal of Charlie's deep sense of regret. The fim is also notable for the fatalism of its central character, who is brilliantly played by Charles Aznavour. Charlie is sensitive, shy, soft-spoken, caring, and sympathetic. He is trusting of others, and lets himself be manipulated. He realizes that he is wasting his talent, and that he has a lack of commitment.

Charlie has responded to his loss of hope with resignation and detachment. This may be in part because he remembers that when he was successful and well-known, his career led to tragedy.

He sees that whenever he becomes well-known and important, whether as concert pianist or as the brother of a criminal, it leads to tragedy for those who are closest to him. The ending of the film portrays a mood of quiet sadness and fatalism.

The film successfully combines romance, suspense, and crime drama.